This is a guest post by Kendal resident Barb Smith, consisting of her memo to the administration about the draft “values” document from August 22. Her focus here is on the “social contract” implied by the “Values and Practices” brochure she received when she arrived.

Memo to: Michele Berardi

From: Barb Smith

Re: Values Document

Date:  September 6, 2023

By way of introduction, let me say that I was not a resident selected to participate in the groups who provided the material on which the current draft was developed.  Although I was out of state when you presented the process by which this draft emerged, I have reviewed the recording and the document since my return.

I understand the importance for Kendal-Crosslands Communities to have a brief pamphlet which tries to encapsulate its mission and values, so that the general public can begin to grasp how the organization sees itself.  The draft presented to residents is clearly an attempt to do that.  I assume that you have already received many positive suggestions of how the text might be improved, a few things to add, a change of wording, etc. 

Given that assumption, I would like to focus on a different issue.  I came to Kendal in 2016.  I had a legal contract which stated the apartment I would live in, what I would pay per month, etc.  But I also received what I considered to be a social contract between myself and all other residents and Kendal.  It was the Values and Practices pamphlet, a revision of Values and Standards.  It is the product of almost 40 years of learning how to live as an active, caring community of elders, staff and Board united in the effort to transform the experience of aging.  It is a vision and a guide which is clearly idealistic, and lived out imperfectly, but it explains in plain language how one lives and contributes to this community experience.  It is a document which clearly explains to someone wishing to come to Kendal-Crosslands Communities what makes us different, who we strive to be as community members.  It contains information which will help potential residents decide whether they want to join such a community.  While a much shorter document, such as is now proposed is useful and important, I believe that for each potential resident, staff and KCC Board member, understanding Values and Practices will help assure that this wonderful experiment begun 50 years ago, continues to be enriched by the years of learning expressed in it.

A practical issue: Kendal Corporation is currently using this document.  In a recent gathering of about 40 residents, several mentioned the importance of Values and Practices in their determination to come to Kendal.  Some expressed questions about why we needed a new document, when Values and Practices so eloquently expresses much of how we try to be community.  As a result, a few of us were asked to take Values and Practices and remove the explicit references to Kendal Corp and affiliates and replace them, where appropriate, with Kendal-Crosslands Communities.   It was not a very difficult task, because WE ARE the Living Experiment!  We do see that some additional editing will be necessary – there are a couple of paragraphs in which Kendal Corp assumes an impact beyond what a single group of Communities might expect, and we might want to make a few additions, but these are minor details compared to the richness of the document we already have.

So as you and others consider the many suggestions you have received, I hope you will seriously consider referring in the new Values document, to the more complete explanation of Kendal-Crosslands Values and Practices as expressed in the 2012 document.

Should there be any question about Kendal-Crosslands Communities using a slightly revised Values and Practices document, as described above, I would think that Kendal Corp should readily accept our use of the document (with appropriate revisions).  After all, the original document, (which was initially called “Values and Practices of Kendal-Crosslands and Kendal Management Services”) was written by Barbara Parsons, then a Kendal-Crosslands Communities employee and currently a Kendal at Longwood resident.  The document is an explanation of how a community lives out the values stated.  It is Kendal-Crosslands Communities and other affiliates who are the living embodiment of the practices.  The corporation is a management group which encourages others to use this model.  Kendal-Crosslands established Kendal Corp.

I would be happy to send you a copy of the slightly revised Values and Practices (that is with Kendal Corp and affiliates removed), or you can find it on George Alexander’s blog, On the Kendal Journey. There was minor editing of the grandiose expectations of impact by Kendal Corp, to a more modest impact, reasonable for Kendal-Crosslands Communities, and an additional sentence or two on environmental stewardship. 

Thank you for all the work that you have put into developing a brief Kendal-Crosslands Communities pamphlet.